Bordeaux 2018 Primeurs: Pessac-Léognan, Red
I began my round of visits in the Pessac-Léognan appellation in the customary manner, which by tradition is a snooze lasting half an hour (occasionally as much as an hour) in the reclined driver’s seat of my hire car.
This is a custom which began a few years ago. At the time I was staying in a château up in the northern reaches of the Médoc, and in order to make my 8am appointment at Château La Mission Haut-Brion on time I left my temporary residence at some ungodly hour. The sky was pitch black save for a few twinkling stars and the owls were still hooting furiously, as if trying to ward off the impending sunrise. More importantly, it was also beginning to rain.
Heading south towards the city I initially made good time, but the rain had other ideas. By the time I hit the Rocade the now heavy rain and a consequent rush-hour accident had combined to turn Bordeaux’s ring road into a slow-moving car park. I eventually arrived nearly an hour behind schedule. having spent the best part of three hours behind the wheel.
These days I try to stay a little nearer at hand, but it isn’t always possible. And even if I do, I always allow extra time for the Rocade. And ever since then, I have always arrived ridiculously early. Never mind. After 45 minutes of sporadic snoring, disturbed only by the rumbling of a passing bin lorry, and the occasional commuter setting out for the office in Bordeaux, I was ready for the wines of the 2018 vintage. I brought the seat of my hire back up, and drove the 200 metres around the corner to Château La Mission Haut-Brion.
